8 Sir Thomas Brown, whose life Johnson wrote, was remarkably fond of Anglo-Latian diction; and to his example we are to ascribe Johnson's sometimes indulging himself in this kind of phraseology. Johnson's comprehension of mind was the mould for his language. Had his conceptions been narrower, his expression would have been easier. His sentences have a dignified march; and, it is certain, that his example has given a general elevation to the language of his country, for many of our best writers have approached very near to him; and, from the influence which he has had upon our composition, scarcely any thing is written now that is not better expressed than was usual before he appeared to lead the national taste. This circumstance, the truth of which must strike every critical reader, has been so happily enforced by Mr. Courtenay, in his "Moral and Literary Character of Dr. Johnson," that I cannot prevail on myself to withhold it, notwithstanding his, perhaps, too great partiality for one of his friends: "By nature's gifts ordain'd mankind to rule, "He, like a Titian, form'd his brilliant school; "And taught congenial spirits to excel, "While from his lips impressive wisdom fell. "Our boasted GOLDSMITH felt the sovereign sway; "From him deriv'd the sweet, yet nervous lay. • The observation of his having imitated Sir Thomas Brown has been made by many people; and lately it has been insisted on, and illustrated by a variety of quotations from Brown, in one of the popular Essays written by the Reverend Mr. Knox, master of Tunbridge school, whom I have set down in my list of those who have sometimes not unsuccessfully imitated Dr. Johnson's style, "To Fame's proud cliff he bade our Raphael rise; "Hence REYNOLDS pen with REYNOLDS' pencil vies. "With Johnson's flame melodious BURNEY glows, "While the grand strain in smoother cadence flows. "And you, MALONE, to critick learning dear, "Correct and elegant, refin'd though clear, "By studying him, acquir'd that classick taste, "Which high in Shakspeare's fane thy statue plac'd. "Near Johnson STEEVENS Stands, on scenick ground, "Acute, laborious, fertile, and profound. Ingenious HAWKESWORTH to this school we owe, "And scarce the pupil from the tutor know. "Here early parts accomplish'd JONES sublimes, "And science blends with Asia's lofty rhymes: "Harmonious JONES! who in his splendid strains Sings Camdeo's sports, on Agra's flowery plains; "In Hindu fictions while we fondly trace "Love and the Muses, deck'd with Attick grace. 9 The following observation in Mr. Boswell's Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides may sufficiently account for that Gentleman's being now scarcely esteem'd a Scot" by many of his countrymen: "If he [Dr. Johnson] was particularly prejudiced against the Scots, it was because they were more in his way; because he thought their success in England rather exceeded the due proportion of their real merit; and because he could not but see in them that nationality which, I believe, no liberal-minded Scotchman will deny." Mr. Boswell, indeed, is so free from national prejudices, that he might with equal propriety have been described as "Scarce by South Britons now esteem'd a Scot." COURTENAY. "The keen research, the exercise of mind, "To friends around his philosophick throne; "As Nile's proud waves, swoln from their oozy bed, "First o'er the neighbouring meads majestick spread; "Till gathering force, they more and more expand, "And with new virtue fertilise the land." Johnson's language, however, must be allowed to be too masculine for the delicate gentleness of female writing. His ladies, therefore, seem strangely formal, even to ridicule; and are well denominated by the names which he has given them, as Misella, Zozima, Properantia, Rhodoclia. It has of late been the fashion to compare the style of Addison and Johnson, and to depreciate, I think very unjustly, the style of Addison as nerveless and feeble, because it has not the strength and energy of that of Johnson. Their prose may be balanced like the poetry of Dryden and Pope. Both are excellent, though in different ways. Addison writes with the ease of a gentleman. His readers fancy that a wisè and accomplished companion is talking to them; so that he insinuates his sentiments and taste into their minds by an imperceptible influence. Johnson writes like a teacher. He dictates to his readers as if from an academical chair. They attend with awe and admiration; and his precepts are impressed upon them by his commanding eloquence. Addison's style, like a light wine, pleases every body from the first. Johnson's, like a liquor of more body, seems too strong at first, but, by degrees, is highly relished; and such ist the melody of his periods, so much do they captivate the ear, and seize upon the attention, that there is scarcely any writer, however inconsiderable, who does not aim, in some degree, at the same species of excellence. But let us not ungratefully undervalue that beautiful style, which has pleasingly conveyed to us much instruction and entertainment. Though comparatively weak, opposed to Johnson's Herculean vigour, let us not call it positively feeble. Let us remember the character of his style, as given by Johnson himself: "What he attempted, he performed; he is never feeble, and he did not wish to be energetick; he is never rapid, and he never stagnates. His sentences have neither studied amplitude, nor affected brevity: his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy. * Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and * [When Johnson shewed me a proof-sheet of the character of Addison, in which he so highly extols his style, I could not help observing, that it had not been his own model, as no two styles could differ more from each other." Sir, Addison had his style, and I have mine."-When I ventured to ask him, whether the diffe rence did not consist in this, that Addison's style was full of idioms, colloquial phrases, and proverbs; and his own more strictly grammatical, and free from such phraseology and modes of speech as can never be literally translated or understood by foreigners; he allowed the discrimination to be just.-Let any one who doubts it, try to translate one of Addison's Spectators into Latin, French, or Italian; and though so easy, familiar, and elegant, to an Englishman, as to give the intellect no trouble; yet he would find the transfusion into another language extremely difficult, if not impossible. But a Rambler, Adventurer, or Idler, of Johnson, would fall into any classical or European language, as easily as if it had been originally conceived in it. B.] elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison." Though the Rambler was not concluded till the year 1752, I shall, under this year, say all that I have to observe upon it. Some of the translations of the mottos by himself, are admirably done. He acknowledges to have received "elegant translations" of many of them from Mr. James Elphinston; and some are very happily translated by a Mr. F. Lewis, of whom I never heard more, except that Johnson thus described him to Mr. Malone: "Sir, he lived in London, and hung loose upon society." The concluding paper of his Rambler is at once dignified and pathetick, I cannot, however, but wish, that he had not ended it with an unnecessary Greek verse, translated also into an English couplet. It is too much like the conceit of those dramatick poets, who used to conclude each act with a rhyme; and the expression in the first line of his couplet, "Celestial powers" though proper in Pagan poetry, is ill suited to Christianity, with "a conformity" to which he consoles himself. How much better would it have been, to have ended with the prose sentence "I shall never envy the honours which wit and learning obtain in any other cause, If I can be numbered among the writers who have given ardour to virtue, and confidence to truth." His friend, Dr. Birch, being now engaged in preparing an edition of Ralegh's smaller pieces, Dr. Johnson wrote the following letter to that gentleman: I shall probably, in another work, maintain the merit of Addisson's poetry, which has been very unjustly depreciated. |